I'd sooner come under the
curse of the Almighty."
He raised his brows momentarily, but he kept his hand upon his sister. He
was steadily pressing her towards the bed. "If you don't do as you are
told, Biddy, you will be made," he observed. "I am here to-night for a
definite purpose, and I am not going to be thwarted by you. So you had
better take yourself out of my way. Now, Isabel, you know me, don't you?
You know it is useless to fight against me when my mind is made up. Be
sensible for once! It's for your own good. You can't have that draught.
You have got to manage without it."
"Oh, I can't! I can't!" moaned Isabel. She was striving to resist his
hold, but her efforts were piteously weak. The force of his personality
plainly dominated her. "I shall lie awake all night--all night."
"Very well," he said inexorably. "You must. Sleep will come sooner or
later, and then you can make up for it."
"Oh, but you don't understand." Piteously she turned and clasped his arm
in desperate entreaty. "I shall lie awake in torture. I shall hear him
calling all night long. He is there beyond the mountains, wanting me. And
I can't get to him. It is agony--oh, it is agony--to lie and listen!"
He took her between his hands, very firmly, very quietly. "Isabel, you
are talking nonsense--utter nonsense! And I refuse to listen to it. Get
into bed! Do you hear? Yes, I insist.
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